Former leading New Zealand publisher and bookseller, and widely experienced judge of both the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, talks about what he is currently reading, what impresses him and what doesn't, along with chat about the international English language book scene, and links to sites of interest to booklovers.

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Lost in the Museum - reviewed by Lee Murray

Lost in the Museum by
Phoenix Writers

Reviewed by Lee Murray

ISBN 978-0-473-28320-9, 220pp.

Available in print from The Children’s Bookshop,
Retrospace, and other good bookstores.

New Zealand’s National Museum, Te Papa Tongawera, is
not simply a place to get out of the Wellington wind. It is Our Place, the
place where we keep our stories, our treasures, where we remember where we came
from, and where those beginnings might lead us. It is a place which reminds us
of our connectedness. Inspired by this theme, Lost in the Museum is a
collection of stories, connected not only by the magic of the
artefacts—recognisable to anyone who has visited the museum—but also by the
museum’s employees, its visitors, the lost children, wayward spirits, toy
telephones, even the lifts get a mention. The stories journey—sometimes at
breakneck speed on John Britton’s V-1000—through history, through time, guided
by fictional Director Tui Merriweather, and the corridors cleared by resident
ghost-buster, Miss Evangeline Marple. They follow the lives of goddesses,
ghosts, kings, a cross-dressing bridegroom, a misplaced ice-cream vendor, and a
stray pterodactyl. Tutankhamen makes a quick appearance.

Of course, while our national museum is a place of quiet
reflection and historical import, it isn’t immune to the vagaries of office
life. Like any other institution it is affected by inter-departmental politics,
office romance, IT security issues, attempted robbery, and rampaging hordes of
time-travelling Vikings, all of which have been chronicled in this full
accounting of museum life.

A rollicking cavalcade of adventures, Lost in the Museum
features writing by members of Phoenix Writers, including international names
like Phillip Mann, Tim Jones, Lyn McConchie and Glynne MacLean, as well as some
excellent tales by newer writers. A favourite story? It’s hard to single one
out, especially since the stories are so closely connected, but I particularly
enjoyed Jeena Murphy’s Queen of Heaven for her characterisation of the
great Queen Semiramis, and her twisted, and yet startlingly appropriate,
conclusion.

Beautifully presented, with stunning cover art by Geoff
Popham and interior artwork by William Carden-Horton, Lost in the Museum
something of a taonga itself.